1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus, such as a pushbutton telephone or other receiving and sending equipment, for use in accessing telephone or cellular company originating central office equipment so as to allow a calling party to control the disclosure of its directory telephone number and/or name (hereinafter sometimes referred to as xe2x80x9cDNxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cdirectory telephone number with a corresponding namexe2x80x9d) to a called party who subscribes to any of the Custom Local Area Signalling System (CLASS) services such as Caller ID, Automatic Recall, Who Called Me, Automatic Callback and Screening List, to name a few. The apparatus is also for use in receiving a DN sent from telephone or cellular company terminating central office equipment, displaying the received DN in a display counter and storing the received DN in memory for later recall by the called party, In furtherance, the apparatus is for use in permitting the automatic or manual dialing of the stored directory telephone number with a corresponding name to return a missed call. This invention also relates to a method for sending to a called station during a silent interval of a ringing signal cycle or a call-waiting tone signal cycle a calling party directory telephone number with a corresponding name from terminating central office equipment.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Several Regional Bell Operating Companies are offering or planning to offer their customers Caller ID on a subscription basis. This new service discloses the calling party directory telephone number to the called party during the first long interval between ringing signals from a telephone switching office. Due to privacy considerations, most state Public Utility Commissions are requiring their local telephone companies to offer Caller ID along and for free, so as to allow the calling party to decide on a per call basis whether to disclose or block its directory telephone number to the called party. One blocking service being offered or considered by the Regional Bell Operating Companies requires the calling party to dial an access code prior to and as part of the calling sequence in order to override the calling party permanent xe2x80x9cpublicxe2x80x9d status of its directory telephone number and temporarily flag the directory telephone number as xe2x80x9cprivatexe2x80x9d to indicate to the terminating central office equipment that the directory telephone number is not to be disclosed to the called party. If the access code is dialed as part of the calling sequence, the directory telephone number will not be disclosed to the called party. In either case, the originating central office equipment transmits the flagged xe2x80x9cpublicxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cprivatexe2x80x9d directory telephone number to the terminating central office equipment to which the called party telephone line is connected during call setup. If the directory telephone number is flagged xe2x80x9cprivatexe2x80x9d, the terminating central office equipment connects to the called party telephone line with ringing only. However, if the directory telephone number is flagged xe2x80x9cpublicxe2x80x9d, the terminating central office equipment connects to the called party telephone line with ringing and the transmission of the calling party""s directory telephone number.
The invention disclosed in the Carolyn A. Doughty U.S. Pat. No. 4,582,956, issued Apr. 15, 1986, discloses a method and an apparatus for displaying at a selected station special service information during a silent interval between ringing signals from a telephone switching office. Each received character of the special service information is xe2x80x9ctemporarily storedxe2x80x9d in a data memory of a data receiver by a program-controlled microprocessor and then exhibited in a display unit under the control of the microprocessor. The display is thus initiated during the silent interval and remains until cleared, automatically, when the called party answers the incoming call or when the calling party hangs up. Thus, in either situation, the special service information is retained in memory at the terminating central office switch and not in a memory at the called party apparatus.
The foregoing problems are solved and a technical advance is achieved by method and apparatus for accessing telephone or cellular company originating central office equipment so as to control the disclosure of a calling party""s DN to a called party who subscribes to Caller ID or to any of the previously mentioned CLASS services by performing different automatic calling operations. Another technical advance is achieved by method and apparatus for receiving, displaying and storing to memory a calling party""s DN sent from telephone or cellular company terminating central office equipment responsively to the calling party""s flagged xe2x80x9cpublicxe2x80x9d DN received to the terminating central office equipment from originating central office equipment to which the calling party telephone line is connected. A receiver-decoder connected to a called party apparatus (telephone set or separate stand alone unit) receives and decodes signals representing the calling party""s DN sent from the terminating central office equipment. A number generator connected to the apparatus generates and assigns a numeric digit(s) to each DN received to the receiver-decoder. An alphanumeric display unit connected to the apparatus displays the received DN in an LED or LCD display. A memory unit of the apparatus stores the received DN and the generated digit(s) to memory for later recall and display. Still another technical advance is achieved by method and apparatus for recalling a stored DN from memory for visual display in a display, and for automatically or manually dialing the stored DN to return a missed call. For example, assuming that the called party missed the incoming call and decides to return the missed call, the called party presses a recall button on the apparatus to recall the stored DN from memory for display in the LED or LCD display. The called party then causes the apparatus to go into an off-hook mode so as to receive dial tone from central office equipment and then presses the digit(s) assigned to the stored DN on a keypad on the apparatus, thus an autodialer unit connected to the apparatus automatically dials the stored DN.
Still yet another technical advance is achieved by method for sending to a called station during a silent interval of a ringing signal cycle or a call-waiting tone signal cycle a calling party DN from terminating central office equipment responsively to the receipt of the DN from originating central office equipment indicating that the DN is to be disclosed at the called station. For example, the terminating central office equipment responds to the receipt of the calling party""s xe2x80x9cpublicxe2x80x9d DN from the originating central office equipment by connecting to a voice channel of the called party busy or idle telephone line with a ringing signal or a call-waiting tone signal and then sending the DN to an apparatus at the called station during a silent interval of the ringing signal cycle or the call-waiting tone signal cycle.
In accordance with the teaching of this invention I provide a calling party with a programmable apparatus and methods of accessing telephone or cellular company originating central office equipment so as to control the disclosure of the calling party DN to a called party who subscribes to Caller ID or to any of the other CLASS services by performing different automatic calling operations. I also provide the called party with the programmable apparatus for use in receiving, displaying and storing to memory the calling party""s DN sent from telephone or cellular company terminating central office equipment.
In one operation of this invention, i.e. in FIG. 1, the calling party programs the apparatus prior to going off-hook to perform a desired automatic calling operation by pressing either a display button or a block button on the apparatus, in addition to pressing a desired digit on the apparatus keypad corresponding to a stored phone number of a person to be contacted. The desired automatic calling operation begins when the calling party causes the apparatus to go into an off-hook mode. The telephone or cellular company originating central office equipment to which the calling party telephone line is connected, detects the off-hook condition on the telephone line and sends dial tone. A dial tone detector of the apparatus detects the dial tone while a microprocessor of the apparatus responsive to the detection of the dial tone, determines whether the display button or the block button has been activated. If neither the display button nor the block button has been activated, conventional automatic or manual dialing of the stored phone number or any other phone number prevails. Assuming that the display button and the digit corresponding to the stored phone number of the person to be contacted have, indeed, been activated, an autodialer with memory unit of the apparatus automatically dials the stored phone number. The originating central office equipment responds to the autodialed phone number by temporarily flagging the calling party permanent stored DN as xe2x80x9cpublicxe2x80x9d and automatically transmitting the flagged xe2x80x9cpublicxe2x80x9d DN to the terminating central office equipment to which the called party telephone line is connected. The terminating central office equipment responds to the receipt of the flagged xe2x80x9cpublicxe2x80x9d DN from the originating central office equipment by connecting to the called party idle or busy telephone line with ringing or call-waiting tone signals and transmitting the DN to the called party apparatus during a silent interval of the ringing or call-waiting tone signals. The apparatus receives the DN, generates and assigns a numeric digit to the received DN, displays the received DN in an LED or LCD display and stores the received DN to memory so as to allow the called party to later recall the stored DN from the memory for display and automatic or manual dialing of the stored DN to return a missed call.
In another operation of this invention, if it is determined that the block button has been activated, the autodialer with memory unit of the apparatus automatically dials a prestored access code. The access code instructs the originating central office equipment to which the calling party is connected, to temporarily flag the calling party permanent stored DN as xe2x80x9cprivatexe2x80x9d. In continuance, the microprocessor of the apparatus immediately makes a decision to determine whether the digit corresponding to the stored phone number of the person to be contacted has been activated. Assuming that the digit has been activated, the autodialer with memory unite which is now in a pause mode, automatically dials the stored phone number. The originating central office equipment responds to the receipt of the autodialed phone number by temporarily flagging the calling party permanent stored DN as xe2x80x9cprivatexe2x80x9d and automatically transmitting the flagged xe2x80x9cprivatexe2x80x9d DN to the terminating central office equipment to which the called party telephone line is connected. The terminating central office equipment responds to the receipt of the flagged xe2x80x9cprivatexe2x80x9d DN from the originating central office equipment by connecting to the called party idle telephone line and transmitting ringing signals only, or by connecting to the called party busy telephone line and transmitting call-waiting tone signals only.
In still another operation of this invention, if it is determined that neither the display button nor the block but ton has been activated, conventional automatic or manual dialing of any access code and/or phone number prevails.
In still yet another operation of this invention, if it is determined that the display button has been activated and the digit corresponding to the stored phone number of the person to be contacted has not been activated, the calling party automatically or manually dials the stored phone number or any other desired phone number of the person to be contacted.